Is the short-e pronounced as [e] or [ɛ] in standard English? [duplicate]

In many English dictionaries, I saw the phonetic symbol of short-e is /e/ such as in bed (/bed/). However, I'm taught that the pronunciation of that is /ɛ/. Which one is right in standard English? Does such a difference exist for native speakers?

This question is very different from Could you clarify /e/ and /ɛ/? because I can very clearly understand the difference between /e/ and /ɛ/ in my mother tongue. I am asking which one is correct in standard English, and what's the native speakers' suggestion to English learners on these two sounds.

Solution 1:

Which one is standard depends on which variety of English you speak.

In the U.S., the standard pronunciation is [ɛ]. If you say [bɛt], people would understand you to be saying bet, while if you say [bet], it might be heard as bait (although probably not if the meaning is clear from context).

In the U.K., the standard RP (upper-class) pronunciation used to be [e]. However, despite the fact that dictionaries still represent the phoneme as /e/, this has changed — see this blog post. Today, they're allophones; as @FumbleFingers says in the comments, both of them would be heard as bet, and various people use one or the other.

So when learning English, as a purely practical matter, you should use [ɛ], because that pronunciation will be clearly understood by both Americans and Brits.

Solution 2:

In AmE the pronunciation is rather [ɛ]: /bɛd/; in BrE the traditional pronunciation, considered to be RP by some, is [e]: /bed/. However, in BrE regional variants tend towards [ɛ] or are [ɛ]. This can be verified at John Wells Phonetic Blog.